Samsung | The Verge

The Galaxy Z Flip 8 is at its best when there’s friction

2026-08-28T11:26:51-04:00

The Z Flip 8 is designed to be used shut more than ever before. | Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

What do you want from a flip phone when it's closed? A simple interface, perhaps notifications and a widget or two, for handling the basics? Or a fully fledged Android experience shrunk down for the Flip form factor? For years, Samsung has insisted on the former, even as some fans - and Razr rival Motorola - have pushed for the latter. With the Galaxy Z Flip 8, Samsung has given in.

Although the Z Flip 8's hardware is almost unchanged year-on-year, Samsung has fundamentally rethought how this phone is meant to be used when shut. The cover screen feels more like a regular Android phone, with easier access to the full versions of every single …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung’s Galaxy S26 FE pairs last year’s hardware with last month’s software

2026-08-27T08:10:40-04:00

The Galaxy S26 FE holds few surprises.

The Fan Edition phones are rarely Samsung's most exciting launches of the year, but the new Galaxy S26 FE feels especially familiar. Hardware-wise, little has changed since the S25 FE launched 12 months ago, and the upgrades have mostly come in the form of software tricks which themselves were already seen on this year's previous Samsung flagships.

At its core, this is the same phone as last year's. The 6.7-inch OLED display, 4,900mAh battery, and triple rear camera are all identical. The changes are few: The chipset has been given its annual upgrade to the Exynos 2500, and the 12-megapixel selfie camera is a little wider, with an 85-degree …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Of course Samsung made a 1,100Hz gaming monitor

2026-08-27T07:38:10-04:00

Samsung announced its upcoming lineup of Odyssey gaming monitors today at Gamescom, and says that several will feature "world-first innovations" across display speeds and design. This includes the 27-inch Odyssey G6 it initially unveiled in December, which now features a 1,100Hz refresh rate, alongside new OLED Odyssey G9, G8, and G7 updates for 2027.

The Odyssey G6 G60H's upgraded 1,100Hz final launch specification is a smidge faster than the already ridiculous 1,040Hz refresh rate that Samsung announced it would have at CES 2026. Little has changed otherwise, so this is still a dual-mode gaming monitor with an IPS-based display and a 1ms …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung has new Galaxy headphones in the works

2026-08-14T15:18:45-04:00

Strings of code in Samsung's Galaxy Wearable app hint at an upcoming pair of over-ear headphones that could compete with the AirPods Max, SamMobile reports. Samsung's reportedly referring to the headphones as the "Galaxy H1," and SamMobile says they could launch sometime in 2027. That would make these the company's first pair of over-ear headphones since the Level On in 2015, which was released well before Samsung acquired Harman and a number of other audio brands.

Connection status icons in the app standard show the design of over-ear, wireless Bluetooth headphones, but not necessarily exactly what these will look like in the end. Samsung …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung’s $1,900 Z Fold 8 is still vulnerable to pocket lint

2026-08-13T06:21:25-04:00

iFixit has provisionally given Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 a repairability score of 4 out of 10, which largely hinged on… well, the hinge. In its teardown of the device, iFixit found that because it carries an IP48 ingress rating - meaning it isn't protected against particles under 1 millimeter - dust and sand could make its way into the hinge mechanism, a component that's difficult to repair or replace.

"After working the Fold 8 open and closed, the hinge started making truly awful crunching and grinding noises, and the phone stopped opening normally," iFixit said. "Samsung has previously treated the hinge and inner display as one replacemen …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Android now has a tap-to-share feature

2026-08-12T11:27:24-04:00

Android's AirDrop-like Quick Share feature will now let some devices exchange files and contact information when tapped together. The update is coming to Pixel 6 series phones and newer starting today, according to Google's announcement, and will roll out to Samsung's Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra, Fold 8, and Flip 8 "soon."

The tap-to-share feature uses NFC and proximity to simplify sharing, enabling users to wirelessly send contact details, photos, videos, and more by opening the share sheet menu and bringing the two devices close together. Quick Share's tapping update will also be expanded to "more Android devices by the end of the year," accord …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung’s Z Fold 8 Ultra is more of the same, but better than ever

2026-08-07T10:48:38-04:00

The Z Fold 8 Ultra retains the boxy shape of Samsung’s previous foldables.

What makes the Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 8 Ultra so Ultra? Samsung's first foldable with the Ultra name isn't a souped-up version of the regular Fold 8, as you might expect. Where the Z Fold 8 is squat and wide, the Fold 8 Ultra retains the thin outer screen and square inner panel of the previous Folds. It does have a substantially better triple rear camera system and a slightly larger battery. But with no support for the S Pen stylus and no Privacy Display, it's not Ultra in the same way as the Galaxy S26 Ultra.

But compare it to last year's Z Fold 7 and the upgrades look more substantial. Samsung has improved the displays, battery, charging, …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung’s HDR10 Plus Advanced is launching this month on Prime Video

2026-08-04T11:43:59-04:00

After previewing HDR10 Plus Advanced late last year, Samsung's not-Dolby Vision 2 spec will launch globally on Amazon's Prime Video this month. The first TVs announced with support are Samsung's 2026 lineup, which will be able to make use of the extra metadata to deliver more precise HDR that is optimized for what you're watching, and tone mapping that can adjust for specific areas of the screen instead of applying one setting to the whole frame.

Samsung's press release didn't mention which titles will have support initially, or how many there are, other than including a press image showing off Amazon's series Ride or Die. The news also co …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Samsung’s Galaxy Z Fold 8 feels like the future

2026-07-29T09:54:55-04:00

A short king.

Is this the future of foldable phones?

Samsung clearly thinks so. The company has given its new wide foldable the "Z Fold 8" name, positioning the phone not as a widescreen oddity, but as the new normal, the default design for foldables going forward. Rumor has it that Apple feels the same way, with a similar squat shape widely predicted for the first foldable iPhone, expected to launch in September.

Whether you want to give the credit to Apple, Samsung, or even Huawei (which got here first with the Pura X Max), I think they might be onto something. After a week, the Z Fold 8 feels comfortable, natural, and normal, despite being the short …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Here’s what Samsung’s smart glasses actually look like

2026-07-22T13:09:44-04:00

With a camera on every pair, Google’s and Samsung’s AI glasses face the same privacy problems as Meta’s. | Photo: Dominic Preston / The Verge

Samsung has given us our first chance to check out its upcoming smart glasses in person, revealing two new designs and the first specs in the process, including an impressive 9-hour battery life. The glasses, developed in collaboration with Google and the eyewear brands Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, are due to launch this fall.

Google and Samsung have been teasing the new glasses for some time, and revealed the first two designs at I/O in May. Now there are two more frames: Both are unsurprisingly boxy, with a new set of squared off black glasses from Gentle Monster, and a more rounded, red-brown pair from Warby Parker. Jaein Choi, the e …

Read the full story at The Verge.